Your questions, answered straight.

An air tightness test measures uncontrolled air leakage through a building’s envelope. The result is given as air permeability in m³/h·m² at 50 Pa. It is required to demonstrate Part L compliance for most new dwellings and many non-domestic buildings.

Your target comes from your SAP or SBEM design figure, not a fixed national number. Under Part L 2021 most new dwellings are designed to 5 m³/h·m² or lower. We test against the figure in your energy assessment, so design and testing line up.

Approved Document L allows sample testing on larger developments, but every untested dwelling is given a penalised default value in SAP. Most builders test all plots to avoid that penalty. We’ll advise on the sampling rules for your specific site.

Once the dwelling is weather-tight and complete — windows and doors fitted, services sealed, trickle vents in place — but ideally before final decoration, so any remedial sealing is straightforward.

We identify the main leakage paths on site and advise on the sealing work needed. You carry out the remedial work and we return to re-test. Catching it early, before decoration, keeps the fix cheap.

SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) is the methodology used to show that a new dwelling meets Part L of the Building Regulations. It produces the Dwelling Emission Rate, the fabric energy efficiency figures and the final EPC.

Design Stage SAP is produced from your drawings and specification before work starts, for Building Control. As-Built SAP is produced after completion — incorporating the air test result and any spec changes — and generates the EPC.

Extensions with significant glazing (typically more than 25% of the new floor area) or that otherwise increase energy demand may require a SAP calculation to show compliance. Send us your drawings and we’ll confirm whether you need one.

SBEM (Simplified Building Energy Model) is the equivalent of SAP for non-domestic buildings — offices, shops, warehouses, community buildings and similar. SAP covers dwellings; SBEM covers everything else.

Approved Document E requires pre-completion sound testing for new-build attached dwellings, conversions and rooms for residential purposes, unless Robust Details are used on new builds. It proves the separating walls and floors control noise transfer.

Two things: airborne sound insulation (through separating walls and floors) and impact sound (footfall through separating floors). Both are measured against the standards set in Approved Document E.

It depends on the number and type of separating elements and how the dwellings are grouped. A typical set covers a sample of each construction type. We’ll confirm the exact test schedule from your layout before we attend.

A ventilation test measures the airflow rates of a dwelling’s extract and supply systems and checks them against Approved Document F. All new dwellings require their ventilation systems to be commissioned and flow-tested.

Intermittent extract fans, continuous mechanical extract (MEV) and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) all need measuring against their design flow rates. We test the system installed in your build.

An Energy Performance Certificate rates a building’s energy efficiency from A (most efficient) to G. It’s required whenever a building is constructed, sold or let, and is lodged on the national EPC register.

An EPC is valid for ten years from the date of issue, unless the building is materially altered in a way that affects its energy performance.

We’re based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and our engineers cover the whole of the UK — England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. See our areas covered for more detail.

Most tests are booked within the same week, and we’ll always tell you the earliest date when we quote. If you’re working to a deadline, let us know and we’ll prioritise it.

Every quote is a fixed price agreed before we start, with no surprise add-ons at the end. Our calculation services include the relevant certificate and revisions in the quoted price.

Yes. Combining air, sound and ventilation testing — or bundling calculations and testing into one package — saves time and reduces the per-unit cost. Tell us the full scope and we’ll co-ordinate it.

Email them to info@ukbuildingcompliance.co.uk, or post them to UK Building Compliance, 1a Clarendon Road, Hinckley, LE10 0PJ. Drawings are best supplied as .pdf or .dwg files.

BACS transfer, cheque or cash. We can also take card payments over the phone.